The World is Yours
by Giratina
Summary: Aqua has been enlisted into Aberrant Academy, a mysterious school seemingly on top of the world, without her knowing. Now she must make her way through her first experience in a real school; friends, mysteries, crushes and all. - High school AU...?
1. Welcome to Aberrant Academy

"_Why were we, of all people, chosen to be on the show?"_

"_You all passed the drug tests and you looked fine when we illegally accessed your medical records."_

"_Um..."_

"_You all have a personality disorder and each of you is addicted to at least three illegal drugs. You fuckers are reality show gold."_

* * *

><p>Eyes opened. Fingers stretched. Senses started up. And all at once, they realized that something was very, very wrong.<p>

Slowly signs of movement started up in the girl's body; whereas before she had been lying with her face to the backs of the chair, looking for all the world like she had died, there were finally movements stirring her from the awkward position. Said position certainly didn't come easy. Her head was foggy from blood rushing to it, and her muscles ached from sleeping in a contorted position like that. Just when she thought that she had mustered enough energy to sit up, the world shook violently and she collapsed back onto the seat with an "oof".

She blinked a few times to clear the Bokeh blurs from her eyesight, and eventually noticed a red ceiling above her, inlaid with thin golden patterns. Looking to the side, she felt the cushy material of the chair she was on, before noticing that it wasn't a chair at all – but a bench. Upon trying to move, she hit her head against something on the end of the bench. An armrest. Moaning, she waited and listened to the rumble below her as she tried to sit up.

Hang on. Rumble...?

When she had gotten to a safe sitting position, she practically clung to the seat as her mind swam again. This was obviously a migraine, but why?

"Attention passengers," droned a rather bored-sounding voice from... somewhere. (She couldn't quite make it out.) "We are nearing the last stop. All passengers must disembark at the next stop. I repeat, all passengers must disembark at the next stop..."

Well, she knew where she was going off, at least. And... The girl stood up, using the seat in front of her to pull herself up Fortunately, though, her mind was clearing and energy coming back. "Where am I?" she asked no one in particular, even though she had worked out the answer as she spoke. This was some kind of train. How had she gotten here? She definitely hadn't boarded a train last night. She hadn't even been near a train last night. There were none where she lived. She couldn't see how this was possible.

What she _did_ see, however, was that there was clearly a bag sitting on the window seat of the train, and the only marking on the otherwise nondescript black object was her name.

Aqua walked over and picked up the bag, tilting her head curiously. She could feel that the bag was empty, so she went back to her original seat and sat down. Her muscles were still aching; sleeping like that for hours would make _anyone's_ body hurt, she thought, looking down at the seat with something that might be contempt. As she did so, however, she noticed that her clothing was different; instead of the t-shirt and sweatpants she had worn to bed (living in a house of men did that to a lady), she was wearing a nearly-skintight white jumpsuit and shiny – but uncomfortable – white boots.

"I hope they have a change of clothes wherever we're going," she muttered.

As if on cue, the train began to stop, and the male voice rang out again. She now saw that it was coming from an intercom. "All passengers, please depart from the front of the train. A member of staff will be checking all cars for passengers. All passengers, please go to the front of the train..."

The blue-haired girl frowned, and waited for the train to halt completely before standing up. She gathered her bag (the only other thing on the train as far as she could see) and opened the door at the front of the car, taking an opportunity to look around.

She shivered.

On both sides sat open ocean, with a large dark blob looming in the background. The sky was a solid gray color, and her vision was further obscured by some rather nasty fog. The train sat on a small bridge, with water on either immediate side; not particularly enjoying the idea of getting blown into the water, Aqua made her way to the next car quickly. And so it continued until she came to what appeared to be the front of the car. To her immense relief, she discovered someone else standing there.

"Ticket, please," the man said.

"...Ticket?"

"Everyone who boards this train pays for and receives a ticket," he said flatly. Aqua realized that this was the same man talking over the intercom. "If you do not have a ticket, then you do not exit the train."

"But I don't remember getting on this train," Aqua protested. "I just woke up here. I don't have any ticket."

"If you do not have a ticket, then you do not exit the train."

Aqua blinked. "...Where will you take me?"

The main remained emotionless. "I'm sorry, but I am not in a position to disclose that information."

She stared at him for several seconds, as if trying to believe her ears, and then blinked. "Um, can you give me a minute?" She backed up into the doorway of the car, holding the edge of the car with one hand and her bag with the other.

He nodded. "Certainly, ma'am. The train will leave in ten minutes."

She shut the door behind her and hopped into the next car, where she continued back the way she came until she found her car (identified by the crumpled fabric of her own seat; all of the other seats were pristine, like they had never had anyone ride in this train but her). There was no ticket sitting on the bench, nor on the floor under it. Huffing, Aqua inspected the entirety of the car, only to find nothing that even remotely resembled a ticket. There was no way that the ticket could somehow be hidden on her person; this outfit left almost nothing to hide as it was. (She reminded herself again to somehow find a way to cover up. This was uncomfortable.)

Finally, she turned to the bag. That was the only thing she had gotten on this blasted train. Aqua sat down and pulled open the drawstring top, finding to her immense relief that there actually _was_ something inside – an envelope. She ripped it open and sifted through the contents, not waiting to read any of the papers until she found what she was looking for.

She found what she was looking for.

Not even two minutes later she was back at the front of the train, looking at the conductor with wide eyes as he inspected her findings.

"Everything appears to be in order," he said, placing the ticket in his pocket. "You may exit the train."

"Thank you!" she called to him as she hopped down onto the platform. At the same time, she heard something rearing up again, and turned around again. She locked eyes with the man just before the door closed. It was only when the thing started to move that Aqua realized standing in front of it was probably a bad idea, so she backed up several steps, eventually turning around entirely and staring down the foggy expanse in front of her.

The dark blob from before was no longer visible (she could only assume that the fog had gotten thicker in the maybe ten minutes since she had last taken a look at it); instead, she was met with a set of stairs ascending into the nothing. "Last stop, huh?" she told the darkness. "Gee, I wonder why." Regardless, she began walking up the stairs.

It soon became apparent that there were _a lot of stairs_. "You must be kidding me," Aqua said, stopping briefly to stare deeply into the fog. Maybe, with any luck, she could see through it and find the top... or not. This endeavor ended in failure. 'What a change of pace,' she thought, continuing to walk up again. Truth be told, this was starting to make her uncomfortable – she couldn't see any enemy if they were to approach her. And without knowing where she was, well... years of training were telling Aqua that being blinded so effectively was a bad, bad idea.

Unnerved, she held out her free hand and willed for help to come, not knowing whether it actually would or not. But a second later, her hand was still empty, and she realized that she was wrong. _Again_.

It wasn't helping her sense of helplessness, either.

The walk up the stairs was fairly extensive in its own right, but Aqua's tense attitude and slow movements made the trek seem even longer. But eventually she did make it up the mountain, and a larger shape appeared in the fog. Aqua counted her blessings for making it to safety in one piece (assuming that building was 'safety') and approached.

Nothing about the building served to identify it for any purpose, but the door was unlocked. Justifying herself with these facts, Aqua opened the door and peered in.

Immediately she was bathed in warm light. Aqua desperately wanted to fly into the heat and comfort of the wooden building right then and there, but she forced herself to stop and look around. The walls and floor were made of wood, with a high domed ceiling partially covered by a web of rafters. Assorted couches and chairs were scattered around the room, with a few tall lamps sitting around. All of them were turned on.

And no one was inside.

"Hello?" called Aqua uncertainly. There was no response from inside.

"Hel-lo?" she repeated. If the lights were on, there had to be someone home. And if there was someone home, then they could tell her where she was. The girl took a few steps forward, looking around for any signs of movement – though as it turned out, she really didn't have to.

From one of the other rooms came an unholy clattering, and Aqua was almost immediately greeted with a person who walked – no, _pranced –_ into the only visible doorway. He was about her age, with long blond hair and a frankly ridiculous outfit that looked like it was better suited for some sort of circus act. But it was only when he looked at her that Aqua came to; the expression on his face practically _radiated_ crazy. And he was staring directly at her. In her skintight outfit.

Eeek.

"Oh?" he said, walking over to her with a skip in his step that honestly just made her even more nervous. "What have we here? Are you a newcomer, little girl? You must be, judging from that outfit there!" He merely giggled, sounding rather feminine himself, as Aqua's face flushed from anger and embarrassment.

"Tell me who you are," she said. "And where _we_ are."

The teenager blinked, and Aqua noticed something else.

"...And why you have that giant sack over your shoulder." Indeed, he was carrying an extremely large brown rucksack. She could have sworn she saw it wriggle just a little bit, but it was probably from this lunatic's dancing.

"Don't worry about that, dear," he said, flicking his free hand as if to wave the thoughts away. "You shall understand in time! Hee hee. And as for this... well, it's really nothing important, I just found it in the house. Pay it no mind." He nodded as if this were an acceptable answer.

"If it's nothing important, then why are you taking it?" Aqua retorted.

He stared at her for a short while, as if trying to register her question, then straightened up slightly. "You know," he said slowly, as if a realization was just dawning on him, "that is actually a very good question. I don't know why I'm taking this..."

Aqua smiled. "So why don't you put it back where you found it?"

"Oh, why not." He giggled again. "Like I said, they're useless!" And just like that, he gave the sack a good swing and sent it crashing onto the floor a few feet away. The first thing Aqua noticed was that the contents of the bag were obviously heavy; the second thing she noticed was that the contents of the bag made a noise. Specifically, a series of pained 'mmf!' noises when it hit the ground. And looking at it...

"Omigosh."

Aqua whirled around, looking like she wanted to give this joker a knuckle sandwich – but he had disappeared. Leaving that problem be for the moment, she ran over to the sack and immediately ripped it apart, at which point her worst fears were confirmed.

A pair of giant eyes stared at her from a gagged face.

She squealed despite herself and pulled the boy out. He couldn't have been older than fifteen... why would that lunatic want to kidnap him? Aqua was untying the rags around his mouth, hands and feet, and all through it the boy kept 'mmph'ing insistently. When she finally pulled off the cloth around his mouth, he took a giant gasp of air. But instead of talking to her, like she had expected, he crawled over to the bag again and pulled out a _second _captive from its depths. Tied up just like the first, the visibly younger boy (honestly, he couldn't have been older than eight) didn't look scared or confused or even fazed at all; in fact, while Aqua and the teenager set to work on untying these new knots (they were not loose ones, of course) he didn't look like he was affected at all.

But of course, he gasped for air when the gags were removed from his mouth, just like the other guy.

"Thank you," said the older one. "Thank you very much." The younger one bowed his head.

"No problem. But what was that creep doing with you two?"

He eyed the door, which was still hanging wide open from the guy's spectacular exit. "His name is Kefka. I don't think anyone knows what he's thinking. He's known around here to be just a little... unstable." Instead of looking annoyed or spiteful as Aqua had expected, the teenager was only concerned as he stared out the open door. Suddenly, he remembered something and stood up, walking over and shutting the door.

"Don't want that cold getting in," he said thoughtfully.

Aqua nodded and stood up. "Excuse me, but do you think you could tell me where you are?"

He turned around and looked at her for a moment. "Didn't you get the letter?"

"The letter? ...Oh, right!" It had completely slipped her mind. She picked up her bag from where she had dropped it and pulled out the envelope. "So this should tell me everything I need to know?"

"Not everything. Come, sit down." He headed over to one of the couches and sat down, the younger boy following suit. Aqua took an armchair. "That letter, if it says the same as ours, will tell you that you've been enrolled in Aberrant Academy, a school meant for extraordinary students of ages varying widely, as you can see." The younger boy, who up until now had been fixing Aqua with a steady stare, blinked once.

"But I never enrolled in any academy," said Aqua slowly.

"Exactly." The teenager shook his head slightly, causing his long but neat blond hair to swish around somewhat. "You came late, it appears, so you missed the orientation. That was when the true nature of the academy was explained. The real identity of this place is the Castle of Departure, and the entirety of the student body has been transported here from their destroyed worlds, not necessarily from the same point in the world's timeline." He sent a not-unkind look at the younger boy, who broke his stare from Aqua (she was secretly relieved) to meet it.

"So... the Land of Algor... is gone?" Her voice had become squeaky. She tried to correct it and failed.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I'm very sorry." If his expression was anything to go by, he meant it.

Aqua stared at the two of them for several seconds. "...Are you sure?"

"No, admittedly. But no one has been able to leave this place since the 'school year' had begun." He shook his head, obviously displeased with this lack of information. "So unless someone figures it out, then the only thing we have is what we are told."

Despite this sounding like it would probably be discouraging, it gave Aqua the strength to find her normal voice again. "Who told you all of this? Who was running the orientation?"

"The woman presenting herself as principal of the school. She introduced himself only as Oblivion."

"What's her first name?"

"She never told us. Though we probably won't be using it much, so it's likely not a problem." At that moment, a shrill whistling noise erupted from somewhere else in the building. Aqua jumped about a foot in the air, but the elder boy merely smiled. "Ah. That would be the tea." He turned to the younger boy. "Would you mind going to get it? Take an extra cup for our guest." The boy nodded obediently and left for the kitchen.

Wait a minute. Aqua looked between the now-empty doorframe and the boy still with her. "How do you know him? Is he your younger brother?"

"No, no, we're not related by blood," he said, chuckling. "I had never known him until I came here. But do you recall what I said earlier, about timelines? Apparently, he comes from a future of my world in which... honestly, I still can't believe it myself." His smile was wider now. "In his time, I am the ruler of my world and he's actually one of my apprentices."

"Apprentice for what?" Aqua's hopes soared.

"Scientific pursuits," the teenager responded, looking almost elated at the mere idea of it. "Apparently we had been studying Darkness and Light."

Aqua nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. It hadn't been the sort of apprentice she was looking for – a Keyblade Master in this odd place would be absolutely wonderful. They would be able to explain everything. But even so, that wasn't such a bad choice of study either, as she was very well aware. "It's important to understand those," she agreed. "Otherwise they can end up controlling you, instead of you channeling them."

At that moment, the third member of their little group silently reappeared with a tray. He certainly looked like a scientist, she thought, even if the coat was a little big on him. (Well, alright, _very_ big on him.) Aqua took her cup and thanked him gratefully, only just now realizing how hungry she was from breathing in the aroma of it. He distributed the other two cups accordingly, set the tray on a table, and assumed his previous position. As he did so, the older of the two blinked suddenly, as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh, we've completely forgotten to introduce ourselves! I'm so sorry. My name is Ansem, and this is Ienzo."

"Nice to meet you both," she said, smiling. "I'm Aqua." She sent them both a reassuring smile; true to form, Ansem returned it in kind while Ienzo's face didn't change at all. He was... still watching her, actually, and it was definitely beginning to creep her out.

And just when they had reached a comfortable silence, there came another noise – but this definitely wasn't a teapot. Aqua steadied herself enough to not drop the tea (honestly, that would have been a disaster!) but merely set it down on a side table. Because the noise was a beeping, and it appeared to be coming from her right arm. Frowning, she cautiously peeled back the sleeve of her little rubber jumpsuit – it was harder than it looked – and when she had succeeded in that endeavor, she discovered a thin metal band encircling her forearm.

"What's this?" she asked.

Ansem was staring at the band as well, though, and Ienzo's expression had finally changed, if only slightly – his brow was now furrowed slightly, frowning at her. Or rather, her arm.

"...That isn't good," clarified Ansem quietly.

"What _is this_?" Aqua repeated, a bit more forcefully. She could have been a bit calmer, if only there weren't an unfamiliar beeping object clamped around her forearm.

"Well, everyone gets one when they... wake up." Ansem looked like he was finally having trouble putting words together. "What we're in right now is a dormitory building. Shack, really. It's only Ienzo and I in here. I think it sends out some kind of transmission to the bracelets. And every night and midnight, new students' bracelets check for... well, these transmissions. And if you get caught in one, that's where you're registered."

Aqua stared at the bracelet, even after it stopped beeping. "...Oh. And we... can't change the room assignments?"

"They didn't mention that in the letter. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it had gotten this late."

The silence was suddenly not so comfortable.

"Like I said, I don't know the policy on rooming arrangements," he said. "Maybe we can find someone to fix it tomorrow. But in the meantime, it's midnight and there will probably be classes tomorrow..."

"Classes?" Aqua looked up. "You mean this is _really_ acting like a school?"

Ansem nodded.

"In that case... oh my gosh, you're right, we _should _get to bed." Aqua's eyes widened. "But, um, first... where did you get the clothes...?"

"There should be male and female school uniforms in the spare rooms," Ansem explained, gesturing to the door that Kefka had come out of – apparently there were individual bedrooms. "Though there is also a chest. Look in there, since it might have some things from your home."

"From home? But I thought they were..." Her voice died off.

"Whatever happened to them, there are a few objects in there that are identical to what we had in our own world. Ienzo's coat, for example, or this." Ansem tugged at the red scarf around his neck, which Aqua had somehow failed to notice. "It must have collected the items beforehand, somehow, and have been able to sense where each student has logged themselves."

"What is 'it'?"

Ansem looked at her quite seriously. "As far as we know? Either Oblivion or the castle itself."

* * *

><p>After bidding the boys goodnight, Aqua ventured into what she assumed to be one of the spare beds. (There were four doors from the hallway; Ansem and Ienzo had gone into two of them, so she took the third, at random.) But upon flicking the lightswitch, she discovered the reason for the separate rooms: they were very small, pathetic separate rooms. There was barely enough room to walk around in, between the bed, dresser, and – as Ansem had promised – the chest sitting in the corner. Naturally, she went over to the chest first, and kneeled down in front of it. Her fingers fumbled ever so slightly with the latches.<p>

Upon opening the chest, she discovered two things, one of which disappeared almost immediately after she set eyes on it. But this didn't disturb her at all; as a matter of fact, she breathed a giant sigh of relief. Standing up and turning around, she reached her hand out. This time, the plea for aid worked, and she found herself standing with a sword in her hand.

"Yes!" Aqua couldn't help but do a little dance, even after everything that she had found out today. At least she had her Keyblade back.

She soon turned her attention back on the chest, and picked up the only other object within it; a silver pin in the rough shape of a leaf, with a diamond on top and crossed lines that intersected like an X underneath. It was the symbol of the Land of Algor, proof that she was a Keyblade Bearer, and possibly her most prized possession after the blade itself.

Needless to say, Aqua did another little dance.

* * *

><p>It took me a moment to realize what was happening by the time I woke up.<p>

I was feeling very tired for some reason, but it wasn't like I had woken up too early or something... right? I looked over to the side of my bed, hoping that the bright red display would confirm that it was still six o'clock in the morning, that I hadn't skipped a beat. Except the numbers weren't there.

A second later, the events of last night came back to me. They still didn't make any sense, but they were there. And looking around, I was still in the same room I was in last night, wearing the same pajamas. (The closet came fully stocked with all sorts of clothing that fit me exactly – or at least, the few that I tried on fit me. Another wonder of this freakish place.) I was just sitting on the bed thinking about this when I heard a knock on the door.

Opening it, my visitor turned out to be Ansem, holding a letter in his hand. "This was addressed to you," he said. "Everyone gets one." He handed the envelope to me.

"Thanks," I responded. "How did you know that I just got up?"

His eyes shifted to a patch of wall on my right. "I... kept checking. To see when you woke up."

"And I didn't hear you?" Man. I must have been sleeping pretty hard. Normally a knock on the door, even one as soft as that, would have had me up in a second.

"I guess not. But you'd better open it quickly – classes formally begin soon."

I nodded and opened the letter. I had grown to distrust them in my short time at Accession Academy, so I scanned the contents quickly. After reading it, I put it back in the envelope and looked back at Ansem. "It says that I have a day off to explore campus. You guys can go without me."

"Does it?" He looked curiously at the letter. "It must be some special merit for latecomers. Well, we'll be back here at around three o'clock. Alright?"

"Three o'clock. I'll meet you." I smiled at him. "Bye."

"Bye." He gave me a little wave and went on his way down the hall. I, meanwhile, was more interested in further exploration of my bedroom, now that it wasn't the middle of the night and I had no lessons. (What an odd feeling! So... liberating. At least I'll be able to explore, instead of just sitting around all day.) I once again checked the trunk – it was empty. Bedside table – table lamp, check, badge, check. Closet – assortment of clothes I've never seen before in my life, check. And holding out my arm, Keyblade – check!

I don't know what I would do without this thing. Though it would do to keep it out of sight, at least for now.

Because now, I have a date with one Mr. Oblivion.

The letter, in a nutshell, was this: 'Dear Aqua, you have been excused from classes today in order to gather your bearings in the Accession Academy campus. Please note that any attempts to escape the campus will result in your untimely and bloody demise. A map of campus has been included for your convenience.'

I looked around, and soon located a clock sitting on the wall. 8:45.

Okay then.

I cracked my knuckles (never mind how unladylike it's supposed to be) and turned back on the wardrobe. I guess my old clothes weren't able to be carried over. Filtering through the contents, I decided that even if I wasn't going to class today, I had better get into the habit of wearing this uniform. This in mind, I put on my new clothes. Surprise surprise, it fits perfectly.

Honestly, this looks like it could be the men's uniform. White dress shirt (with tie), admittedly spiffy black jacket, white pants. Also included was a gray vest and mid-length white skirt – I figured that was the summer option, but considering the weather last night, I went for the coat and pants instead. So with my new uniform on, I went out of my room into the hallway again. But upon poking my head out oft he front door, I realized that there was nothing in that direction but the empty cliffs and the rails from last night.

"So they have to climb a mountain to get to school?" I asked. Not that that was a _problem_, but...

"There's a back door," announced a laughing voice from somewhere above me.

I looked up to discover the silhouette of a person sitting on the edge of the roof, dangling his feet over. I couldn't see much more than his outline, though – what little light the sun provided today was sitting behind him.

"What are you doing up there?" I called. "Are you a student here?"

"C'mon up, the weather's fine." He patted the seat next to him as a form of response.

Shaking my head, I walked over to a tree and climbed up. There weren't very many footholds, so it was an... interesting experience, but at least this would serve as part of my warmup for today. From a sturdy-looking branch, I promptly leaped over onto the roof of the building, dusting off my clothes. (Whose bright idea was it to give us _white pants_?) Thus accomplished, I walked over to find him staring at me like I'd just grown a few heads.

"What?" I asked.

He laughed then. "I didn't think you'd actually do it." Oh no he didn't.

"Well, why not?" I sat down next to him.

"'Cause you're... well, you don't look like the kind of girl who can scale a tree, you know."

"Sure." I gave him a look. "Anyway, you still didn't answer my question." He did seem to be a student, since he was wearing the uniform (the boys get _tan_ pants, apparently), but that didn't explain why he was lolligagging around on some random roof instead of, say, I don't know, _going to class_.

"It's a nice day," he said in response, lying down. "Figured I'd head up to a sunning rock, get a little shut-eye."

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

He looked over at me with a crooked smile. "I've gone to school every day this week. Been a good boy. I can get a break every once in a while, right?"

"Oh, 'every day this week', is it? It's Tuesday."

"Yeah, well, that's a serious achievement!"

I rolled my eyes. "Your grades are going to drop with an attitude like that."

"Grades? What grades? They don't mean anything."

"Yes they do!" I stuttered. "If you don't get good grades, then you'll be expelled... or spend your life selling something shady on a street corner! Plus, you'll look like an idiot."

"Where am I going to go? The world's been destroyed, remember. They can't expel me. And there's no street corner to sell stuff on, either." He turned to me with another smile. "And I'm an idiot already, so what's the harm?"

I pulled my legs around me. "What an awful attitude."

"This coming from someone who isn't in class either?"

"It's my first day! I have it off!"

He sat up suddenly, interested. "Oh really? Haven't seen a new face in a while." He rearranged himself just a bit. "Anyway... what's your name, eh, beautiful?"

Despite myself, I felt an unholy blush fly across my face. "...Beautiful?"

"Sure." He shot me another one of those crooked grins. "So, I'm Axel. What's your name?"

'Axel. Not a common name,' I thought, even through the cloud of embarrassment that had taken me over from his little 'beautiful' comment. "...Aqua," I managed.

And just like that, he reached over and patted – patted? More like hit – me on the back. "Welcome to Aberrant Academy, newbie. I'd like to say that this old place will grow on ya, but y'know, I mustn't tell a lie."

I sincerely doubted that this guy cared at all about how many lies he told. "Right," I said. "Thanks for the welcome, anyway."

"So you're hanging out in this building here, huh?" Axel stomped his foot on the roof a couple of times. "I thought this was a _boys' dorm._" He gave me the nastiest smile on the planet, but that was quickly wiped off his face when he saw my expression. "Unless you're a..."

"_No_," I said quickly, seeing where he was going. "It's the bracelet. This was the first dorm I found. Maybe if they wanted to have gender segregations then they should have sent us to rooms that were actually our gender."

Axel leaned his head on his knees. "That's usually what they do," he said. "You came here by train, right?"

I nodded.

"I thought so. Everyone is supposed to stop at a dorm with an open spot that's specified for their gender."

"Is this building the last one around the line?" I asked suddenly.

"...Yeah," he said, looking at me funny. "How'd you know?"

"Because there was an announcement on the train that said this was the last stop," I remarked primly. "No one wanted to tell me what would happen if I refused to get off the train."

Axel shrugged. Apparently he didn't know the answer to that question either.

"Yeah, well, I'll leave you to your sleeping now," I said, getting up. "I should be looking around campus."

"Did you get your schedule yet?" he asked.

"No. Where would it be?"

The teenager stood up as well and pointed to an object on the ground – a mailbox. "Probably in there," he said. "You should go down and check. Maybe we have a class together or something." He gave me a wry smile there, probably expecting me to swoon and melt in his arms. Try again later, buster.

"Yeah, I'll go see what it says right now." I used the tree to climb down just as I came up, and upon opening the mailbox I realized that there actually was a few envelopes in there. Flipping through them on the lawn, I skipped through all of the ones addressed to Ansem until I found one for me. Ripping it open, I discovered that it was just as Axel had promised. There was a schedule in the envelope, with my name on it. How convenient.

"Did you get it?" Axel howled from the roof.

I waved the letter at him in response, and then climbed back up the tree and onto the roof. (Honestly, I'm going to get so many tears in my clothes if I keep doing this...)

"Let's see!" he said, sounding much too excited to be talking about some random stranger's class schedule. (This will be my first time learning in an actual school, instead of with tutors. It sounds like an interesting experience.)

Without even looking at it, I hand the paper over to him. He scanned the list quickly, expression unchanging, and then hands it back to me. "Not bad, not bad," he admitted. "Got a few clunkers, but everyone does. Plus you've got _me_ for math and gym." Another one of those annoying smirks. Will this guy never give up? "Anyway, looks like I'm not going to get any sleep here. Want me to give you a tour of the school? There's some weird shit here, I tell ya."

I winced at his language, but nodded. "Thank you."

He beamed – stupid boy must think that this is supposed to be some kind of date. "Well then, m'lady, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

><p><em>Hi everyone! Looks like even I have been caught up in the obsessive need to create a high-school AU. But even this simple concept - 'take a bunch of characters and put them in a school setting' - apparently isn't good enough for me! So, can our heroine can make sense of the ludicrous Aberrant Academy? What secrets hide within the the school... and its inhabitants? Will Axel <strong>ever<strong> get the memo that Aqua isn't really into him? Find out on the next chapter of The World is Yours!_

_(Don't ask about the Ansem Retort quote and everything will be juuuust fiiiiiine.)_

_- Gira_


	2. Axel's Whirlwind NoRefunds Tour Service

"Are you sure that you should be sneaking around _inside_ the school?" I asked, following him in through a window (!) that led to what appeared to be an empty classroom. "I mean, since you're supposed to be in class. Staying out there was bad enough."

"I can just say that I'm showing you around," Axel said with a wave of his hand. "It's no big deal. Besides, there's a lot of creatures of the dark out to get you in this school."

"The students can't be _that_ bad," I muttered.

He turned around to fix me with a hard stare. "I'm not talking about the students."

Before I could get anything else out, Axel suddenly went rigid and grabbed my arm. He pulled me behind a convenient – if short – shelf of books, and the two of us knelt behind it, peering up over the top. I couldn't see anyone in the darkness of the room, but there was the definite sound of footsteps walking somewhere nearby. And just like that, there was a silhouette in the doorway, looking right at us.

In a second I was in defense mode, crouching down quickly and practicing deep breathing to control my heartbeat. With a few seconds' difference, Axel was crouched down as well. I frowned; those few seconds would be the death of him if we were in a real fight. _Which we may well be,_ I realized. I glanced over and met his eyes, mouthing a few words: 'Who is it?' He shook his head in response. Great. Now we have an unidentified assailant who has us at their complete mercy... how in the worlds had this happened so soon?

I briefly considered bringing out my Keyblade, but realized soon after that it might be a good idea. After all, I don't know how Axel reacts when he's scared. He might scream or something, and then we would be dead meat – or at least found. And we couldn't be found now, for too many sakes.

"Ah," announced a graceful voice to the empty room. "How... charming."

Glancing over, I realized that Axel's eyes had suddenly opened wide. _That's not good. _He knew the person now, and for whatever reason, it was seriously upsetting him. I began to reconsider my decision in regards to taking out the Keyblade, muscles tensed to run at any moment. The window was still open, if the person turned around then maybe we could jump back out in time...

I heard a giggling from the same origin point as the previous voice, but it wasn't the same. Now my eyes widened, for two reasons: one, there was more than one enemy, and two, one of them was Kefka. Kefka, lunatic Kefka, student-abducting dangerous Kefka. I glanced over at Axel again; he was beginning to sweat now, wearing an expression like he was completely terrified but attempting to make a plan regardless. Brave boy... stupid boy, but brave boy. Though I suppose I must not look much better.

I'm keeping an ear to the opposition as I glance back up at the window again, wondering how long it would take to get both myself and Axel back out of it, when Kefka picks the moment to whine. "But it's so cold. How can we get anything done when we've all frozen into blocks?"

"The window's wide open. Of _course_ it's cold." Axel bit his lip. I wasn't sure if it was just another one of those people he recognized, or because... yep, I heard footsteps coming towards us.

"Run for it," he whispered quickly.

"Hey!"

_Dammit. _The person who was walking up had caught his words, and I wasted no time to gauge his reaction; instead, I sprang for the window. At the same time that Axel did. As a result, we collided in the air and clattered to the floor in a shouting heap. If that didn't tip off Kefka and friends, I don't know what will. I wriggled away from him immediately, only to find that there was another body hovering over me. It wasn't Kefka, and I wasn't sure if it was a boy or a girl (probably a girl, judging by the hair), but regardless, I rolled on my back before it could do anything and delivered a double-footed kick to the stomach.

The person was sent flying back and I whirled around again, bringing myself to my feet. Kefka was standing there, giggling like he was watching a movie, and soon enough my silver-haired assailant went to join him. His hair was long enough to be mistaken for a girl (there was even a feather in his hair), but as he turned to face me, I noticed that he was obviously male. _Very_ obviously male. His shirt was completely unbuttoned and there was nary a jacket or vest to be seen – only what appeared to be some kind of robe that draped around his legs. To be perfectly honest, he practically radiated 'creeper'. I assumed my battle stance, only inches away from actually summoning my Keyblade, but instead I delivered a demand to Featherboy.

"Who are you?"

In response, Featherboy just folded his arms and smiled smugly. I noticed that he seemed to be wearing a deep purple armband, but I couldn't make out the writing on it.

I looked at Kefka. "Is this puppy yours, sir?"

"Silence," snapped Featherboy. "I demand to know what you are doing in this room."

"Entering the building." Yeah, right. Like he thinks he can boss me around with an attitude like that.

"Through the window?" he responded, the smug look not leaving his face. "That would be why it was open, it couldn't have been long enough to chill the air."

"How do you know we just came in?" I asked.

"Because when you tried to escape you hit one another on your way out." He smiled as if this was the most hilarious thing in the world. From next to him, Kefka chittered something about explosions. "If you had been sitting there any longer, then surely you would have formulated some kind of escape plan. Not that I expected anything less from _him_. Not one for planning things out, are you?"

Axel snarled.

"Do be kind on her, Koojie," chirped Kefka, slinging himself over Featherboy (who looked absolutely disgusted). "I happened to see her trotting around yesterday in one of the _newbie suits_."

"While kidnapping perfectly innocent people," I snapped. But the damage was done; Featherboy whirled on me, wearing a nasty, nasty smile on his face.

"Oh really," said Featherboy. "That would explain why you can't put a name to my face, wouldn't it, freshman? But I digress; there is no need for introductions here. Surely it will come later. For now, I will simply instruct you two poor souls to kindly get out of our _office_."

"It's an empty classroom!"

"Not for long. Soon it shall be an office, and a magnificent one at that." Featherboy allowed himself a smile here. "So leave quietly now, and no further harm will come to you."

"This coming from the loser who got knocked down from a girl in a heap on the floor. If you were a real threat to me, I wouldn't have been given enough time to stand up; you would have already pounced on me."

"Aqua," said Axel tensely. I suddenly realized that he had been quiet this entire time while I was mouthing off. (Well hey, I'm not taking this kind of abuse at the hands of a silver-haired... _jerk_, for lack of a better term.) "Aqua," he said. "Come here."

Featherboy turned to Axel, looking even more haughty. "You see? Even our porcupine knows when to step down against his superiors. You would do well to learn from him. Now then..." He unfolded his arms and turned back on me, immediately placing a hand on his hip. "I believe you two were leaving?"

I was just about to make a response, when Axel cut in quickly. "Yeah. Leaving. Come on." And he walked right past Featherboy and Kefka, both of which looked like their ego had been stroked. I followed, glaring bullets. Almost immediately upon leaving them in the room, I whirled on Axel.

"What was _that_ about? You're just going to let them do that?"

"Not worth the effort," said Axel wispily. "We don't need to pick a fight with Kuja. He does that enough on his own."

"Kuja? So that was Featherboy's name?"

Despite himself, Axel actually smiled. "You know, I gave him the same exact nickname when I first saw him."

At least the silence was slightly more comfortable now. We continued walking like this, Axel looking completely confident in where he's going... which honestly put me on edge. Far too many times I have seen men act confident to hide incompetence beneath. "You do know where you're going, right?"

"'Course I do," Axel responded, slouching along at his own merry pace. "We take this staircase here and then we're in the library. Come on." He was smiling with lazy confidence, but upon walking down the stairs and entering the new door on the bottom landing, the grin quickly dropped. Just in time for me to look over and notice that nope, he didn't know where he was going after all.

"Axel, this isn't the library," I said.

And it wasn't. This hallway, in direct contrast to what we had been going down before, had fallen into a state of disrepair. Cobwebs and dust laid thick on every surface, and the tiles on the walls had long since cracked. (So had the lights over our heads, for that matter.) It was obvious that no classes would be held in this corner of the school. "Axel, you didn't know where we were going at all, did you?"

"It's the portals," he grumbled. "Crap."

"_Portals_?"

"The first of many messed-up things about this tower," said Axel irritably. "Let's put it this way. If door A leads to point B, then you may well go through door A and wind up at point R instead." He gestured to the area around us. "And this is probably the worst place we could have possibly ended up. There are a bunch of places in this castle where you do _not_ want to go, populated by monsters and lunatics and all that. And this is one of the places where you do _not_ want to go."

"So how do we get out?"

"Hell if I know."

"Look, Axel, you've been here longer than I have, right? Is there anything you can identify here that could tell you where we are?" I was beginning to regret letting him lead me around. Some tour.

He gulped.

"Well?"

"...Man, you are _relentless._" When my expression didn't change, he continued. "Um, well. We're in the other half of the school. Over here, things are very different."

"Other half?"

"That's what I said. You can see it looks much different from the normal classrooms, right? No one is supposed to be down here, which is why no one knows their way around – even if people find ways to get in anyway, like the thing with the doors what just happened to us. People like to call this part of the school the Dark Half... because, obviously, it's dark. But also because there are a whole lot of monsters here – from stupid animal things to..." He shuddered. "...well, to the armors."

"_Armors_." He's afraid of suits of armor? Seriously? The worst they can do is cast an imposing shadow on the wall.

Axel nodded. "There are too many stories about the armors, Aqua, you'd have heard one eventually. They don't talk, they don't breathe. They don't ever take off a piece of their armor. They're a host of five violent, demonic things, they all have swords and aren't afraid to use them, and the only way you know they're coming is _clank, clank, clank_... Scary shit, Aqua. You don't want to get caught up in the Dark Half's affairs."

I raised an eyebrow. They didn't sound too terrifying to hear Axel talk about it, probably because of all the cursing.

Axel abruptly stopped walking. I turned around. "Aqua, I'm not kidding. People have died down here."

"Died?" Now that's new.

"Yeah," he said. "And I'm not talking wimpy little kids either. A few years ago, a member of the _student council _came down here. He didn't come back up. No one ever found the body."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Was Axel really so stupid? "Just because they're part of the student council doesn't mean they're more capable of defending themselves than an ordinary student," I said. "You know, Axel, that's the kind of submissive thinking that's going to..."

Axel slapped his forehead. "Newbies," he muttered under his breath. "No. Aqua, in some places, it might not mean they're stronger if they're on the council. But here, _it does_. You got me?"

At that moment, I became aware of a soft noise from behind us and stopped the argument immediately, slowly holding up an arm for Axel to do the same. After a second he seemed to catch on as well, and attempted to look behind him. "Don't move," I whispered. "I'm going to turn around. Slowly. Slowly..." This I did – up until I realized that we were facing something much worse than I could have expected.

Two pairs of eyes gleamed at me. And they were attached to the same body. I couldn't see the rest of it, being hidden in the darkness, but it was enough to tip me off pretty nicely. "A hellhound," I said. "Axel. Run for it. Now."

I then took my own advice, just in time not to get ripped apart by a savage two-headed beast almost as tall as I was.

Fortunately, I had the good sense to not scream as I ran.

I couldn't tell you for how long I ran through the darkened hallways, registering almost nothing but the threat of danger at my back. It was a maze of nothingness, nothingness which happened to have a lot of clutter on the floor – meaning, I tripped more than once. And every time I got up and kept running even faster. Anything to get away from that damned beast. In the beginning I could hear it barking and snarling behind me, but eventually I just stopped paying attention. And so it went.

Eventually, even I was forced to stop, slowing to a halt against a cold, damp patch of wall. _This is great. This is fantastic, _I thought darkly. _Now I'm locked in a corridor with no lighting, in the darkest and most monster-infested corner of a building I know nothing about... and I can't even retrace my steps anymore. _I looked back down the way I had come, scowling. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going, and besides, there was probably some kind of hellhound waiting back there, or chasing Axel...

Axel.

Axel.

Ugh.

I took a deep breath. "Calm yourself, Aqua," I said. "Axel is a big boy. Acrobatic. He can take a thing like that." But he also just told me about what happened to the councilman who came down here...

Still panting slightly, I stood up straight again and faced the direction I had been running. _There's no going back, so go forward. _I began to walk, tense from head to foot. Any noise that came from the darkness – the scurry of paws, a drip from the pipes – was cause to make me jump and prepare for attack, Even the sound of my own footsteps took me once or twice. I was focused on finding any way out of here, any way at all.

And then came the noise.

'The noise' was a slightly squeaky, rubbery sound, like rubbing wet plastic together. And it was coming from directly in front of me. All of a sudden, a giant pair of bright yellow eyes loomed out at me from the darkness (I was seriously getting sick and tired of this), and the noise changed. Instead of a slipping sound, it came out more like this:

_Hissssssss._

The snake was fast, very fast – even before I could respond, it had already lashed out with its tail and knocked me to the side. I hit the wall with a painfully audible _crunch_, and then slid down, almost positive that I was bleeding. I looked up, and locked eyes with the creature.

They were so... deep.

And they looked hungry.

Hungry for my flesh.

And just like that, some otherworldly sensation took over me and I found myself unable to move. I sat there for barely a moment – or was it eternity? Whatever it was, my brain glazed over, and my body stopped moving entirely. It was a struggle to put thoughts together. And the thought I wasted my brainpower on was:

_So this is what they call 'primal fear'._

What happened next came in a sort of corrupted slow motion, like my brain was working through a vat of molasses. The snake had opened its jaws wide and was diving in for me (I should probably be concerned about this but I am kind of too busy being paralyzed with fear). This was probably supposed to be the end of me – after all of the things I've done, the training I've gone through to make sure that I never fell at the hands of _anyone_, this was going to be my end.

Except it wasn't.

A dark shadow flashed across my field of vision, and across the snake. I heard a _skreeee_, which I assumed was the animal, because it recoiled in pain. I could make out a mass of red on its face, and it was ducking like something had hit its eye. Before the thing's head had hit the ground, it dissolved into darkness, and I could do nothing but sit there and stare at the place where my deathbed used to be.

Once I had gathered my bearings, I looked over at the person who had saved me, and gasped out loud.

His armor was midnight blue, with a visor covering his eyes and assorted downward spikes on the back of his helmet. (It's worth noting that I assumed the figure was a 'he' - for all I know, they could just be a very flat-chested woman, but that's unlikely considering his body shape. Female armor is usually more curved than that.) But the armor served only as a tip-off to what I was _really _interested in – a Keyblade! I had found someone with a Keyblade!

I've honestly never been so relieved in my life. But as I got to my feet, I didn't give any expression of gratitude. Instead, I told the person, "I could have taken it, you know."

He said nothing, merely looking at me for a moment before starting to walk away.

"I'm serious," I continued, calling after him.

He said nothing, but stopped moving. He didn't believe me. Even though his Keyblade armor masked all of his emotions, morphed and dulled them like so may funhouse mirrors, I could see that he didn't believe me.

"You have a Keyblade," I said. "Why don't you take off your armor so we can talk? You can do that, right?"

He turned around, looking at me. Never saying anything. And I realized the truth. He couldn't do that, not anymore.

_A Linger. A dead Keyblade Bearer whose power of will moved his soul into the body of his discarded Keyblade armor, where it and the sentience of the blade combine... _The definition had been burned into my mind for as long as I could remember. I never knew one. But what was a Linger doing here?

"I... I know what you are," I said. "Look." I brought out my Keyblade and held it up. It was more than slightly unnerving talking to a Linger, but he was the only person down here besides me and Axel (who's long gone), and I could use some directions.

Slowly, he clanked back to my side, looking down at the Keyblade silently. For a moment I wondered if this was a bad idea, if he wasn't a Keyblade bearer after all (even though I could clearly see the armor and the weapon in his hand). We stood there for a few moments, until finally he looked up at me and bowed his head slightly.

"Keyblade wielder," he said in a raspy tone, as if he wasn't accustomed to using it. "What is your name?"

Whoa. Whoa, hey, wait. He can _talk_?

"Surprised?" he asked.

I nodded shakily.

"Well, I suggest you keep quiet about it."

"Aqua!"

The hollow armor tilted his head slightly.

"...Aqua. That's my name."

"Ah," he said. I got the feeling that he was staring hard at me, somewhere in his mind and lost body. "Aqua is your name, is it? Well... the inhabitants of this castle have given me their own name. To them, I am the Shadow of Will. You would do well to call me the same."

"Why can't they use your real name?"

"Because I can't speak to tell them." He put a finger to the area on his helmet where his lips would be. "You are a Keyblade wielder, Aqua. That is why I have chosen to speak to you. To them, I am as voiceless as the others."

"The others? There are others here?"

"Oh, yes. But I'm sure you can find someone else to tell you about them, in due time. For now, we have other matters to attend to."

What he didn't know was that I already had. The Shadow of Will had to be one of the armors Axel had told me about. Moving suits of armor that didn't speak, and carried around a sword. Never take off their armor – or else, I knew, their soul would fly out and wither to nothing. But he was anything but savage and bloodthirsty...

"What other matters?" I asked instead.

"Getting you out of here," he said simply. "I tend to stay down in this wing of the castle, so the residents have come to expect me to guide wandering students back to where they belong." He turned around and began to walk off again. "Come along. It is very easy to get separated here."

"I know," I said. "I had someone else down here with me, a redheaded boy named Axel. Have you seen him?"

"No," he responded. "I'll keep a watch."

So we started walking, the only sound being the Shadow of Will's armor clicking against the ground. Eventually, after stopping at the end of a hallway and opening the door a few times (each time he opened it, it led to a different room), the Shadow of Will stood to the side and held the door open like some kind of otherworldly gentleman.

"You should go back to class," he said.

Not feeling like correcting anyone else about the fact that I don't have class today, I thanked him and walked on through. The door clicked shut behind me, and I finally let loose a long-suppressed shudder. Granted, the Shadow of Will seemed personable enough, but I had never met a linger before, and I did not expect them to be that... _creepy_. And somehow the fact that he was a talking linger just made it worse.

But... on the bright side, he had led me out of the 'bad half' of the castle, so to speak. Everything was much brighter and better cared for over here. I did not enjoy the prospect of going back in to that area, so I didn't look back at all as I walked, and after slipping past a few students who seemed much more occupied with their own minds than any old blue-haired girl, I came out to the courtyard. From here, it was definitely easier to find my way back to my dorm.

"Success," I sighed, having energy for nothing more than that as I plopped down on the couch. And leaning back against the surprisingly comfortable fabric, I fell into a nap.

Waking up was a fairly pleasant experience; I got up on my own, only a few hours had passed, and like some kind of miracle the entire dorm smelled very nice from what I assumed to be dinner. Looking over to the kitchen, I discovered that it was Ansem puttering around in there, and drawn by the smell of food (it was only now I noticed how hungry I am) I materialized next to him a few minutes later.

"Almost done," he said. "Have a seat."

"I could have made it..." I responded, yawning.

"You were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up." I looked at the food itself; pasta of some kind. It didn't look _exceptionally_ delicious (I could have probably got something better back in the Land of Algor), but then, there didn't seem to be much in the way of supplies here.

So instead I said, "Thanks," and sat down at the table. Ienzo was already sitting there, and the two of us stared at one another for a few minutes before I averted my eyes in order to examine the room. (I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Ienzo was watching me the entire time.) The only light aside from windows – which are useless considering it's pretty dark out there – comes from a fixture above the table, and the walls were painted a faded tan color. The entire room had a dim, somewhat dingy air to it.

_But then,_ I thought, looking out the window again, _we're sitting in a house on the rocks. Dim and dingy is par for the course._

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, the food turned out to be pretty good, and in case you're wondering, I still didn't hear Ienzo speak. I went to bed at a decent time, because school is slated to begin tomorrow. And even though I had just had a very long nap on the couch, I suddenly felt tired, tired, so very _tired_... The day was finally catching up to me, and there was no way a little nap before dinner was going to erase that from my mind...

ooo

I greeted morning gratefully.

Last night was... interesting. I could probably best liken it to a fever dream without the fever. It was a twisted recollection of everything that had happened to me yesterday, right up to lying down in bed – but it hadn't ended there, no. A light had flashed in the middle of the night, and I had 'woken up' to find Axel standing in my room in a completely alien getup. Or, at least, I thought it was Axel. I knew he wasn't quite the same, but not for the life of me could I tell you how, except for the clothes. He and I talked, but I was entirely confused the whole time – and as the waking seconds passed, the sands of the dream slipped through my fingers. It's all but gone now.

"Oh, my head," I mumbled, reaching for the envelope still sitting on my bedside table. According to the schedule, breakfast was to be had at the cafeteria... in fifteen minutes.

Figuring that the others had already disappeared, I quickly pulled myself together and ran out of the dorm, slinging the bag with the letter over my shoulder. At the front desk I was given a map of the school and verbal directions to the cafeteria; all things considered, my time was pretty impressive. I was bounced around from table to table (even the ones with only one or two people rejected me with a sneer), until finally I fell into an open one.

And by 'fell', I do quite literally mean _fell_.

Some bright individual had taken a banana (not just the peel) and tossed it onto the floor (it was rotten), and somehow I managed to slip on it. Actually, looking back on the incident, it was pretty stupid of me – I've had training against much more threatening things than _bananas_. But I pretty much thumped into someone's leather-clad back and skidded spectacularly into the nearest chair – though the last bit was mostly an attempt to prevent myself from falling onto the floor and cracking my head open or something.

Leatherhead blinked. He looked impressed, in the _I'm-so-gruff-I-don't-want-to-be-impressed-by-you_ sort of way.

"Er, hi," I said.

He nodded once in my direction and went back to his apple. Considering he hadn't pushed me away like everyone else had, I figured that it was safe to sit there. The table was otherwise empty, and as I readjusted myself to get comfortable in my new seat, I shot a look up at him. (_Way_ up. This guy is tall!) Apparently he had decided to wear this leather jacket instead of his school outfit's vest. Not the weirdest replacement I've seen, though what's the point of uniforms if you're letting people modify them all the time?

"So, what's your name?" I asked, smiling hopefully. "I'm Aqua."

"Leon," he responded. That was the only word he said. The next moment, he was biting into his apple with surprising ferocity.

"Not a talker, I guess," I muttered under my breath, staring into my yogurt cup. What was his problem? I didn't offend him or anything by sitting at his table, did I? And even if I did, why didn't he just laugh and throw things at me until I ran away? Slowly, I looked down at my uniform. At least it hadn't been stained by anything.

I looked around, and immediately noticed something was off. All of the tables, surrounding us, at least three thick, were empty, while all the other ones were easily filled. We were sitting in a darkish, dirty corner – it almost reminded me of the Dark Half again, just a bit. "Why is everyone avoiding this table?" I asked Leon.

"Everyone has somewhere better to be." He finished off his apple and stared at the core for a moment before dropping it in my empty yogurt cup. "You want to go throw this away for me?"

"Not like I have much of a choice," I responded. Locating the nearest trash can (it was in the 'dead zone'), I discarded both Leon's and my own trash, and then returned to my seat. "Though I don't get how everyone could have somewhere better to sit. I mean, this is a sizable chunk of the cafeteria that's empty, don't you think?"

His only response was a grunt.

So frustrating! Even Axel wasn't this bad!

...Axel...

I suddenly grew more serious. I had left him down in the Dark Half, hadn't I? Oh no... what had happened to him? Maybe the Shadow of Will had found him and gotten him out... I hope that's the case. Otherwise, it would mean that I was the one responsible for the death of a student! Indirectly, I guess, but still... killing someone... not the best way to start off at a new school. (If I'd ever been to a real school before. Hooray for living in the Land of Algor all my life, I guess.)

I watched the people sitting at the other tables. At first I wasn't paying much attention to them, but now that I wasn't distracted by anything (except Leon's doom-and-gloom aura, but that didn't count) I had a good opportunity to watch what they were all doing. I soon caught sight of a large mob of people standing around, apparently watching something.

"What are they doing over there?" I wondered out loud. I didn't expect a response from Leon, and when I didn't get one, I stood up and walked over myself.

"Hey," I muttered to a random person. "What's going on in there?"

He turned to face me, smiling wickedly. "Oathkeepers got their hands on someone," he replied. "It's gonna be good, you can just tell."

Oathkeepers? Were they some kind of police force within the school? Interested, I slipped further in to the crowd – anyone else might have had a harder time doing this, but even if I didn't look too big and imposing, my muscles were still good enough to get me through. Once I had a seat at the front (with multiple curses on my head), I took a good look at what was going on.

I almost immediately had to duck back into the crowd.

Oh my god. Oh. My god.

_Calm yourself, Aqua, it's not that bad, you've seen worse... _So many things rushed through my mind to try and get me back under control, but, um, ew. I couldn't even be in the presence of these people anymore. I pushed rather more blindly back out of the crowd; this was easier, because everyone wanted to take the spot I had just vacated. Everyone wanted to go and watch people bash other people against the wall.

I slumped in my seat next to Leon, and looked over at him with a desperateness in my eyes. "That doesn't..."

"It does."

Somehow, listening to him describe it in his reserved tones just made the whole situation worse. I slumped onto the table, trying to erase the image of the battered little girl from my mind. She was small, cute even, probably nowhere past fifteen, with short black hair and bright blue eyes. There was defiance in those eyes, but there was nothing she could have done... She was so tiny and so bruised, and everyone else was so big...

"That table's dirty," Leon pointed out. I got my head and arms off of it, but I still looked miserable. Glancing over at where the mob was still circled, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that it showed on my face. "But... that poor girl..."

I knew Leon was looking the same way I was, because I heard an unbelievably heavy sigh from his direction. He didn't like it either, even if he was trying to act cool-kid indifferent towards it. And looking over at him, it wasn't like he couldn't stop it if he wanted to; even through the uniform and short-sleeved jacket, I could see he was a strong, muscular guy. (The big gash across his face didn't hurt either.) It was just a matter of being too tired, too weary to stop it, time after time. That isn't how situations grow better, I know... it's only how they grow worse.

"Why does this happen?" I asked him, voice suddenly steeled. "Doesn't anyone do anything to stop it? Staff, Oblivion, anyone?"

"...No," he said darkly.

"Unbelievable." I dropped my gaze from the ugly mob now in full swing on the other half of the cafeteria, and stared back down at the table. "It's unbelievable that they would just allow that to happen to their students. Don't they care about what everyone will become? If we really have nowhere to go..."

"So you believe it, then," said Leon.

"That our worlds have been destroyed?" I looked up at him. "It's very possible. It's happened before. Too much Darkness culminates in one place, and just like that... the whole world is gone."

"Don't you think it's a little weird that they just _suddenly_ became filled with Darkness?" Leon was scowling deeply now, maybe lost in thoughts of his own world. "It doesn't happen with the snap of a finger, Aqua. It takes time for a whole world to be consumed by the Darkness, and you would notice if it was going to happen soon."

...That's the most I've heard him talk all day.

"But it's _wrong_," I insisted. "Someone has to go stop it."

"Yeah, well," Leon looked over at me, his doom-and-gloom aura worse than ever before. "_Life_ is wrong."

I was right. No one would ever say something like that unless they had seen way too many awful things in their life. Briefly I wondered what had happened to him to make him that way, but that could wait for later; in the meantime, I had something else to do. "Well, you're welcome to follow me," I said, standing up. "But I'm not going to sit down and ignore this." I began walking promptly in the direction of the mob.

And then I stopped.

I caught a flash of bright redness in the corner of my eye, in the door to the cafeteria. And as I turned around, any conceptions of breaking up the group was completely lost. Because there, striding in and letting the double doors slam shut behind him, was Axel.

The Axel from my dream.

* * *

><p><em>Trololol! Chapter two at last. I'm sorry for the exposition-heavy silliness that's going on this chapter, but Aberrant Academy is not your average school, and I'm trying to reflect that. Think of it as a sort of... malevolent Hogwarts, I guess. Anyway, any thoughts on the story are very much appreciated, and I hope you all are liking my little take on the 'high school AU' genre~<em>

_- Gira_


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